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Success Is A ‘Slow Burn,’ Business Head Todd Katz Says Of Mixed August 2017 Jobs Report

We can now close the books on August 2017 and with that comes the jobs report and the 156,000 new jobs that were added. Economists are predicting a good showing given the strong summer months and general upswing that the U.S. economy has been experiencing as of late. According to The Wall Street Journal, there are a number of other positive factors to consider, especially low unemployment. According to Todd Katz, who oversaw the growth of a modest pipeline inspection company into an international powerhouse in just eight years, the jobs report is a much-needed shot in the arm for American workers who’ve for too long watched roles be eliminated and wages stagnate. The Associated Press adds that unemployment inched up to 4.4 percent, but that’s no big concern for businesses as the U.S. enters its “ninth year of recovery from the Great Recession.”

When Todd Katz left the inspection company, it boasted 285 employees – up from just 55 in 2008 before he took over as its chief financial officer. What’s more, many other roles Todd Katz has held during his financial career have included direct oversight of financial specialists underneath him. That includes training, mentoring, recruiting and management of teams of investment bankers at a national investment banking firm, as well as being a crisis management team leader at a New York City advisory firm. Going off these two employment examples alone, it’s clear that Todd Katz knows what it takes to keep workers happy.

Wages will play a major role in the August jobs report, according to The Wall Street Journal. That’s because wage growth has been “stuck at a modest rate” despite “low unemployment and steady job creation,” according to the newspaper. While the financial experts at the newspaper believe “slack” in the labor market could be to blame, the possibility of younger workers replacing baby boomers could also be at play. That’s because those in their mid to late 20s and 30s most often start off at wages far lower than those about to retire. High wages may make people happy, says Todd Katz, but it also affects their spending propensity and the health of the economy in turn. According to the Associated Press, hourly pay was up 2.5 percent compared to this time last month. That’s in contrast to an average of between 3.5 and 4 percent “when the unemployment rate is this low,” the AP added in a Sept. 1, 2017 report.

According to Todd Katz, these gains may be modest but they are still gains at the end of the day. Given that he held his position with the global pipeline inspection company for eight years before achieving $75 million in revenue in 2016, it’s clear that success can sometimes be a slow burn.